Student sends hoax email canceling MIT classes

Student apologizes for prank

An email claiming to be from the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology declaring that classes were canceled for the day because of "threatening requests" was a hoax, the school said on its website.

The threats claimed to be related to the ongoing investigation into the suicide of accused hacker Aaron Swartz, according to the MIT student newspaper, The Tech.

“Shortly after 1 a.m. (Wednesday), an email supposedly from President L. Rafael Reif, and purporting to being addressed to the entire MIT community, was sent to many MIT students. That email was not in fact sent by President Reif, but by an individual pretending to be him,” the school said in a statement.

The Tech posted a copy of the email and an apology from the student who sent it, sophomore Delian T. Asparouhov.

“Sorry, that email from Rafael Reif was really from me. I was just trying to joke around, and did not mean to bring in such a serious matter like Aaron Swartz. Sorry, just a kid messing around,” Asparouhov told the paper.

“My first reaction was I was excited school was canceled,” said biology student Ben Bell.

“Most everyone at MIT was still awake when it was sent around at 1:15. And it was quickly figured out not to be real. And Delian -- the guy who did it -- apologized to the MIT community,” Bell said.

The email was riddled with spelling errors including an extra “l” in “tumultuous” in the subject and the “e” and “i” were transposed in “received.”

“He's a good kid. I don't think meant any harm. He was just screwing around,”student Zach Siegel said.

Vice President and Secretary of the Corporation Kirk Kolenbrander emailed all students at around 4 a.m. to confirm classes had not been canceled.

On Tuesday, Reif announced that the school would voluntarily make public documents related to the prosecution of Swartz, an Internet freedom activist, for allegedly gaining access to academic articles from an MIT computer archive.